A Coral Wedding in the Northern Territory

We had both been out on the town with friends. When the night had ended some mutual friends offered my friends and I a lift home, turns out it was Ben's car. As the guys had offered us girls a lift home there was now too many people to fit in the car, so my friends stayed back with the other guys to get another ride home. I ended up being the only one that got a lift home with Ben.

Love...

We had been living together a few months. He always used to say “if you keep looking at me like that you’re going to fall in love” I would always just laugh at him, but this particular time he said it and I knew it was true. I told him “it’s too late” to which he replied “I know”.

The Proposal...

We had been together almost six years and were about to celebrate our son Luka’s first birthday party. I was telling his friend that I wish he would stop spending money on fishing stuff and buy me a ring. I then went off to get the birthday cake ready. After we sung happy birthday, I walked up to Ben who was standing next to our car, to tell him that I had forgotten a knife, he proceeded to mumble something to me so I walked off to try find a knife. As we were about to cut the cake, Ben stood next to me holding Luka and he thanked everyone for coming. He seemed a little nervous to me, but I just assumed it was because he hates any type of public speaking. He then looked at me and got down on one knee, still holding Luka, and pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him. I was in such shock, I had been so busy that day running around making sure everything was perfect I hadn’t even expected that he would propose. I started crying, of course I said yes, it was such a magical moment, something that we got to share with all of our close family and friends.

It turns out that after I had spoken to Ben's friend about him buying me a ring, Ben had sat down next to him after I had walked off to organise the cake, and told him that he was going to propose. When I had interrupted him at our car trying to find a knife he had actually had the ring in his hands, so to hide it he had put it in his mouth (the reason he was mumbling to me).

I always thought we would get engaged down at the beach at sunset, but how it actually happened was so much more special. To allow family and friends to be part of it was just so special, and for him to have done it this way was more than I could have asked for.

Wedding Style...

We were after something low key and simple - a backyard wedding, but we still wanted people to know that they were attending a wedding. We went with more of a rustic natural theme, lots of lace, burlap and raffia. To add colour, coral was selected for the bridesmaids and light grey for the guys.

Ceremony Location...

Ben and I had always agreed that we would get married at the beach, so we got married at Dudley Point, East Point Reserve. The ceremony location had 180 degree views of the sea, but as we were on the cliffs we had plenty of shade for guests.

Wedding Reception...

We held our reception at our two and half acre property in Girraween.

The Dress...

I would say that my wedding gown was a mix of old style mixed with modern touches. It was a lace gown with a train and wide lace straps. I knew from the start that I wanted to have a dress with some type of strap/cap sleeve and I loved the idea of lace. The second store I went to, (Just Formals) the consultant picked out a dress that hadn’t been put on the rack yet, it was from the new 2015 stock. When I tried the dress on I knew it was the one, but I made sure I tried on more dresses. Every dress I tried on I found myself comparing it to the first, so we put it back on and that was it, I had found my dress.

Bridesmaids...

To contrast with my dress having straps I put them in beautiful flowing chiffon strapless coral dresses, with silver foot ware and a simple white gold pendant and earrings.

Groom and Groomsmen...

The groomsmen all wore light grey pants, white shirts, black shoes, black belts and matching coral bow ties. The groom wore the same, but instead of a coral bow tie he wore black and also a light grey waistcoat.

Flowers...

I chose my favourite flower, gerberas. We went with a mixture of coral gerberas, coral and white roses and to add some more colour green flower buds, with the stems wrapped in raffia.

Wedding Decorations...

We strung 300m of warm coloured fairy lights to cover the seating area, with a mix of small and medium Chinese lanterns. To go along with the rustic backyard feel I used lace, burlap and natural colours. The tables were decorated with white table cloths, a natural wood slice in the centre, on top of the wood slice there were a variety of mason jars that I had wrapped in a mixture of lace and burlap which had candles in them, with one mason jar filled with a mix of white and pink flowers. The table numbers were in a natural wood colour cut into cursive written numbers. The wedding table was done similarly, but with smaller mason jars and natural wood slices and a natural wood coloured ‘Mr & Mrs Maclean' in the centre. Behind the wedding table we draped sheer curtains with fairy lights. All of the chairs were covered in white chair covers with burlap and lace sashes.

To go along with the natural theme, we used palm leaf plates and wooden knives and forks.

On the Menu...

We had a sit down meal, the food was supplied by family and friends. The food consisted of curry, rice, souvlaki spiced pork and chicken, roast beef and salads.

Wedding Bomboniere...

Personalised coral and grey stubby coolers that read “To have and to hold and to keep your beer cold, Jess & Ben 15 May 2015”.

Memorable Moments...

Putting on my dress, it made it all feel real. Our son deciding he didn’t want to be a ring bearer and instead just walked off to do his own thing. Seeing Ben for the first time when I walked down the aisle. Being pronounced husband and wife and having our first kiss as man and wife.

Wedding Songs...

Walking down the aisle: Keith Urban – Making Memories of Us

Wedding Party arrival: Bruno Mars – Marry You

First Dance: Dierks Bently – Breath You In

Cutting the Cake: Maroon 5 – Sugar

Flower Throw: Megan Trainer – Dear Future Husband

Garter Toss: Justin Timberlake – Senorita

Wedding Photography...

I was recommended Allison Cole Photography by my Matron of Honour who is also a wedding photographer. Allison was also within my budget.

I love how well she was able to capture the natural light and colour and make them work together. She worked really well with the wedding party and made them feel included in the whole photo process. The images turned out better than I could have imagined, she was able to capture such beautiful moments that still followed with the direction we wanted. She made posing feel natural and fun, I don’t think I’ve felt so photogenic in my whole life. I’ve been asked if I would change anything about our wedding and my reply to them is “No, it is exactly how I had imagined it would be” and to have such amazing photographs to look back on is such a beautiful gift from Allison. She is such a talent.